October 29th,
It seems as though my past has finally caught up with
me.
I was walking into the mess with Flint, Low Light and Gung-Ho,
prepared to sit down to a quiet dinner, when I spotted her standing with
Snake-Eyes and Scarlett in the queue. Red and Snakes had returned a few days ago
none the worse for wear. Mind you, I haven’t had a chance to speak with her
much…she has been spending her time in Snakes quarters.
Of course, I’m
not complaining. Flint has practically moved in with me in the
meantime.
Anyhow…I stopped so suddenly that Flint walked right into me
and looked up to see what had caught my eye.
“Mmmm…she’s hot…” he
murmured teasingly in my ear, and was rewarded with an elbow in the stomach. As
he doubled over the new girl looked up to find out what all the fuss was about
and I saw her eyes widened in
shock.
“Alison?”
“Jinx…”
Well…as surprised as I was to see
her she was ten times more flabbergasted to find the great and snobby Lady
Alison Hart Burnett standing in front of her in cammies and combat
boots.
The thing is this little ninja cum Intel agent went to Bryn Mawr.
Not only that, but her best friend at school was MY ‘little sister’. Well, not
literally…the members of the graduating class are always assigned a first year,
to show them the ropes so to speak. I got to know her quite well as a
consequence.
We embraced and began to chatter in French, oblivious to the
stares of the soldiers surrounding us. Jinx is about as skilled at languages as
I am…Japanese, English, Mandarin and French are all part of her
repertoire.
I remember her well. She was a lovely girl from a wealthy
Japanese/American family who traveled from California to attend the prestigious
all girl’s college on a full scholarship. I also remember her being quite
proficient at martial arts. That might be an understatement…the trophy case in
her room was full to bursting.
As for the nickname…well…she had it when
she came to Mawr. She had been given it when she was younger. Apparently ‘Jinx’
was a bit of a bad luck charm…wherever she went things kind of
happened.
I was happy to see her…at least for the first ten minutes.
Then, as we sat down with the others at the table, I realized the danger. If I
knew her well…she knew me better…knew things I had never shared with the
others…
…and if I remember correctly…the little spitfire wasn’t one to
mince words.
“So, Allie Cat…” she used my nickname as we settled down to
our meal, “what the hell is the heiress to the Hart fortune doing in the
military. I mean…this is hardly what your mother would call a proper pastime for
a young lady. And anyways…last I heard you were in Ireland sleeping with one of
your professors.”
Beside me, Flint spit up his diet coke while the others
merely stared at me in amazement.
Oh god oh god oh god…
Scarlett
grinned evilly and before I could stop her, commented that Jinx must know some
amusing stories about my college days. If looks could kill she would have
dropped like a stone under my glare.
“Oh yeah…there was the time Sister
Agnes found her dangling out a third floor window with her roommate Cathy
holding on to the other end of a sheet as they tried to make their escape after
lights out…there was the time she nearly blew up the chemistry lab…there was the
incident with the Princeton men’s Rugby team, weren’t you stalking the captain?
There was the time her father stormed into the residence and told her that 300
dollar Prada shoes did not constitute an emergency and please refrain from using
the AMEX …Did you know we used to call her ‘Imelda’ Burnett on account of her
shoe obsession? Oh and who can forget the time she and Melanie hacked into the
school’s computer and added…what was it? A $3 350 000 ‘Klingon Cloaking Device’
to the school’s year-end budget report…and then…”
By the time she was
finished…well…lets just say I had turned eight shades of red and even Snakes was
trying desperately to stop himself from dropping on the floor
laughing.
Look…I never said I was perfect! I was pretty popular at
University…and my friends and I had a knack for getting into trouble. No one
complained…much…they were pretty minor and we were all ‘A’ students. But it was
embarrassing being reminded of my youthful follies and having them shared with
the large crowd that was steadily growing around our table.
All my fellow
Joes knew of me up until now was that I was a professional, straight laced if
short tempered soldier…down to earth. Not the spoiled, rich troublemaker. The
snobby ‘nose in the air’ Hart from the Vineyard.
Now they were
practically falling over themselves as Jinx related the tale of my historic
performance of ABBA on the school lawn.
That thumping sound was me
banging my head against the table.
“…it was Dancing Queen…or was it Mama
Mia…whatever it was she, Mel and Cathy were hilarious. Wait a minute, I think I
have that on video…”
Low Light practically jumped out of his
chair…”Ok…how much do you want for it.”
“COOPER!” I snapped and he
sheepishly sat back down in his chair.
“I don’t remember where I put
it…”
“…Si vous savez ce qui est bon pour vous, ca vas rester perdu. Cinq
mots – Schnapps au saveur de Peche…”
Needless to say, that shut her up. I
am not beyond blackmail you know…I should have used that ammo long before this
got out of hand. As it was, Flint was grinning from ear to ear…and from the
amused looks he kept passing me I knew I wasn’t going to hear the end of this
anytime soon.
Sigh*
I must have let out an audible sigh of relief
cause she looked up confused.
“You mean to tell me these guys don’t know
about your life before Joe?” I didn’t need to answer as all the guys around me
shook their head no. “Man, Allie…what are you ashamed of? Ok…so you were a bit
off the wall, but you were also smart, rich AND one of the most talented
actresses to come out of the school in years. Not only that, you had a voice
like an angel. I half expected you to end up accepting an Oscar for best actress
by now…or a Tony…”
“You can sing?” Flint looked up, his eyebrows raised
in surprise.
“Sing?” Jinx cut me off, “Man…is that an
understatement…”
“Ok…enough about me…how about you? When did you join the
military?”
She really is a nice girl. I like her…I wanted to kill her at
that point…but overall I was happy to have her on the team. And given her
specialty, it is highly likely that we will be working together quite a bit.
That is if Snakes doesn’t drag her headlong into Ninja Force…
When I got
back to my room…I sighed and threw myself down onto the bed in utter
humiliation. I didn’t notice Flint had followed me in until he started humming
the tune for Dancing Queen.
GROAN.
He is sitting up in bed next to
me reading quietly as I write this. It’s really late but neither of us is tired,
which is surprising given the long day we both had.
It’s funny. I was
half expecting to be teased to the point of having a complete nervous breakdown
but instead Flint sat down and began to ask me questions about my past. My
family, my school life, my childhood…it was the first time he had EVER shown an
interest in my life outside of Joe and, truth be told, I suspected an ulterior
motive.
I guess it must have shown on my face because he smiled a boyish
grin.
“What? You think I would use it against
you?”
“YES!”
His face turned serious, and a bit hurt.
“Ah
come on Allie. I just realized as I sat there listening to Jinx that I really
don’t know anything about your life before I met you. You never told me
much…”
“You never asked, bozo…”
“Well…I’m asking now…”
We
sat staring at each other for a few moments in silence before I began. We talked
for a while and I shared some things with him that I hadn’t talked about or
thought of in years, and he listened attentively.
It was really, really
nice.
In fact…this whole week has been wonderful.
It’s been fun
having him around so much, not having to run off to different sides of the world
for weeks on end. I thought for sure we would be at each other’s throats by this
time…but instead we have settled nicely into seeing each other every
day.
Sharing a bed every night…
Hold on…
…
Dash just
turned to me and asked me point blank if I would ever sing for him. I smiled a
wicked smile and said he would have to do something pretty amazing for that to
happen.
Jinx is right. I am good…I admit that with pride…although I
rarely sing in public, especially since joining the army. I could do the
’Broadway’ thing, but I prefer the theatre. Prefer William Shakespeare to Andrew
Lloyd Weber…
What did he just say?
He’s going to hold me to that?
That I had better be prepared to pay up and soon?
He is up to something I
know it…but what?
Oh….
OH!
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